Demand for increasing visual display resolution has resulted in large corresponding increases in image data size and associated transmission bandwidth usage. For example, higher transmission bandwidths have resulted from increasing visual display resolution in gaming devices, video display devices, mobile computing, general purpose computing, etc. In addition, the growing popularity of virtual reality (“VR”) and augmented reality (“AR”) systems, particularly those using head-mounted display (“HMD”) devices, has further increased such demand. Virtual reality systems typically envelop a wearer's eyes completely and substitute a “virtual” reality for the actual view (or actual reality) in front of the wearer, while augmented reality systems typically provide a semi-transparent or transparent overlay of one or more screens in front of a wearer's eyes such that an actual view is augmented with additional information.
However, the generation of images for such HMD devices and the timing of their display to coordinate with a surrounding physical environment has increased issues involved in the use of such devices.